


Hot Chocolate

by timetravelingvampire



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-02-27
Packaged: 2018-03-15 10:39:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3444104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timetravelingvampire/pseuds/timetravelingvampire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A drink brings back memories for Steve, and Darcy shares part of her past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Chocolate

Steve walked into the kitchen, and sense memory hit him like a truck. Melted chocolate, milk, and a hint of chili. Adding chili powder was a trick Bucky’s mom learned from the wife of one of her husband’s socialist friends at a meeting; it wasn’t easy to find in 1920s Brooklyn, so it became a special treat. One of the few good memories he had of the war was when he stumbled across chili powder in Italy, and between what the rest of the Commandos scrounged up, they had managed to pull off passable hot chocolate one cold night around a campfire.

From what he’d seen the past few years, people didn’t make hot chocolate from scratch anymore; they used powder or K-cups. It didn’t taste exactly right, a lot like most of the food he’d been used to as a kid, but it was a good enough substitute. Peeking around the corner, he spied a knit hat on the top of the couch: Darcy. Of anyone currently in the Tower, he’d have thought Darcy - modernity personified - would be the last to make real chocolate.

He felt a little bad when she squeaked and jumped when he soundlessly walked around the corner in his socked feet and into her view but not enough to not enjoy the blush spreading on her cheeks. “Dammit, Steve, you need a bell.”

“Sorry,” he said, grinning.

She straightened up. “You’re not sorry at all.”

“Nope.”

Darcy frowned as his grin grew larger. “You’re in an awfully cheery mood.”

He nodded. “You make the chocolate?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Any left?” he asked.

“There’s still some in the pan, but you might need to heat it up,” she answered, fingers fidgeting in the blanket on her lap.

Steve nodded and disappeared around the corner back into the kitchen. He whistled cheerfully as he heated the pan back up, forgoing the microwave. In a couple minutes’ time, he had a mug of steaming chocolate and headed back to the couch. Darcy had moved her legs up, leaving room for him to sit. Normally, she also had a plethora of electronics with her - e-reader, tablet, her phone, a laptop - but today, all she had was a well-worn book and journal. And a bag of mini-marshallows. She offered the bag to him, and Steve took a handful, plopping a couple in his mouth and the rest in his chocolate, watching as they slowly melted. He blew on the chocolate and smiled inwardly as he felt Darcy move slightly next to him. This, whatever they had going on, was one of the best parts of his days lately. He didn’t mean to let the moan slip though when he finally took a drink. Darcy looked askance at him. “Good?”

The tips of his ears turning red, he said, “This is amazing!”

“Thanks,” Darcy said. “Nana Lewis’ recipe.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “No jokes about how she’s my contemporary?”

She nudged his thigh with a toe. “Not today.”

He moved his mug to his left hand and reached over to tug on her hair with his right hand. “What’s up?” he asked softly.

Darcy sighed and grabbed his hand in both of hers, playing with his fingers. “It’s the snow,” she finally answered. “Reminded me of the couple years I spent living with my Nana and Papa in Pennsylvania.”

Steve glanced out the windows. He’d realized of course it was snowing- and pretty thickly - but since he wasn’t planning on going outside, it hadn’t really bothered him. “It’s pretty,” he offered.

“When I was little, around six, my parents went to work in Kenya for a couple years with Médecins sans Frontières,” she paused. “Have you heard of them?”

Steve nodded, setting his empty mug down, and turned to face her. She continued. “My mom didn’t think it was safe to bring me, so they sent me to live with my dad’s parents. They were Amish, but when my dad decided he wanted to go to high school and then become a doctor, they supported him and were shunned.”

“Shunned?” Steve asked, his voice soft. Darcy never talked much about her family, but none of them really did. This ragtag group was the only family most of them had left.

“They weren’t allowed to live in their community and couldn’t trade with them, but it wasn’t as strict as it could have been, would have been a hundred years ago; they still lived nearby,” Darcy shrugged. “Anyway, I lived with them, and because I wasn’t an adult, I could go hang out with my cousins, and we all went to school together.” She smiled. “Nana and Papa didn’t have much in the way of modern electronics.”

Steve raised an eyebrow, half-smiling, and she reached over and smacked his chest. “Yeah, maybe I’m overcompensating. It was simpler then. I remember reading curled up next to Nana, watching the snow come down, and drinking hot chocolate she made. Papa would have a fire going, and it was cozy and nice,” she shrugged. “When my parents came back, I only could visit in the summer. By the time I was 14, I was too different from my cousins, so I stopped going.”

“Are they still alive?”

She shook her head. “Papa had a heart attack when I was in high school, and Nana died a couple months after him of a broken heart.”

Darcy sat up properly and put her book and journal on the coffee table, and Steve tugged on her arm until she’d settled against him, snug against his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she answered. “Days like today make me realize how grateful I am to have had them in my life.” She paused and looked up at him. “To have people like you in my life now.”

He smiled and hugged her a little bit closer. “Me too.” Darcy looked back down, and Steve kissed the crown of her head. “Tomorrow you wanna go out and build a snowman with me?”

“Definitely.”


End file.
